A Hero Inside Read online

  Evernight Publishing ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2015 N.J. Young

  ISBN: 978-1-77233-648-1

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Karyn White

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  For Stacey, my sister in every way that counts. I don't know where I would be without your unconditional love and support.

  A HERO INSIDE

  Love With A Price, 1

  N.J. Young

  Copyright © 2015

  Chapter One

  Pulling her phone out of the pocket of her bar apron, Tori Bennett checked the time again. Ten o’clock. Five minutes after the last time she checked. Ugh. Could time go any slower? Her shift was never going to end.

  It didn’t help that the bar and grill where she spent at least five nights a week was completely dead. Usually Quigley’s was the most happening spot in Oakville. But the night before Thanksgiving, everyone was home cooking for the big day. There hadn’t been a soul through the door in the last thirty minutes.

  Frowning, Tori swiped haphazardly at the oak bar top with her towel. She wished she knew what it was like to be up the night before Thanksgiving cooking with a big family, talking and laughing.

  Foster mom number three had liked to cook. That’s where Tori learned to make the sweet potatoes with the marshmallows on top. She’d be bringing her signature dish tomorrow when she had dinner at her friend Rebecca’s. She smiled as she thought of Becca Price. The big Price family had embraced Tori three Thanksgivings in a row. She told herself it was totally normal if once a year she pretended they were her family, too.

  Shoving those thoughts aside, she looked at the liquor bottles askew on the glass shelves that lined the back wall. She’d considered alphabetizing them. Or arranging them by color. It was nice to have things neat and orderly. But somehow she didn’t think her boss would find that very amusing.

  As she straightened the bottles, she began singing along to “Jingle Bell Rock”, which was playing on the speaker overhead for about the five hundredth time that day.

  “Ahem.” The deep voice startled her just as she was about to belt out the chorus.

  Tori spun around, her cheeks flaming in embarrassment. She’d been so off in her own world that she hadn’t even heard anyone sit down.

  Her eyes grew wide as they focused on the man in front of her. As he sat on the barstool, his amused blue eyes took her in, lazily traveling down her body and back up again as if in a warm caress. A lock of raven hair fell over his forehead, adding a look of charm to his chiseled face. When the corners of his mouth tipped up in a slight grin, Tori pressed a hand to her stomach to calm the fluttering that had begun.

  “I—uh—I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t hear you come in.” Good lord, she could drown in those blue eyes. Did the man know how gorgeous he was? He tilted his head and studied her for a moment, and she felt stripped bare in his gaze.

  Ten o’clock marked the eighth hour of her shift, so her makeup had long since worn off. Reaching up, Tori adjusted the messy bun she’d tucked her strawberry blonde hair into that morning and wished she’d taken more care in her appearance.

  When the man in front of her said nothing, she began to fidget, twisting the edge of her apron back and forth around a finger. “Can I get you something? We have specials. Half price Bahama Mamas and Piña Coladas, and uh … Cosmopolitans,” she finished weakly.

  His smile widened, revealing perfect teeth, and a dimple peeked out of his right cheek. Great, he was not only gorgeous, but he was also laughing at her. Did this look like a man who drank Cosmos? Tori gave herself a mental head slap.

  “I think I’m good with a beer, darlin’—Pale Ale if you have it on tap—but I appreciate you listing the specials.” His voice was like a warm, rich caramel, just adding to his appeal.

  Tugging out a pint glass, Tori pulled a draft. Get it together. It’s not the first time you’ve seen a hot guy.

  Glancing at the man on the barstool, she wondered if he was from out of town. If he were one of the pub’s regulars, she would have remembered. Even if he weren’t, Oakville wasn’t a big town. If a guy this hot lived around here, the chatter from the single female population would have been deafening.

  “Are you here for the holiday weekend?” she asked, setting the glass in front of him.

  “You could say that.” He gave a nonchalant shrug of a shoulder. Damn, that blue cable-knit sweater did nothing to hide his muscular chest, and did everything to bring out those eyes.

  Stop staring, Tori!

  When his cell phone chirped, he looked at the display and smiled. “Hey, sis,” he answered.

  Plucking up a bar towel, Tori began rubbing the already clean bar in front of him just for an excuse to look away.

  Hot guy’s face dropped. “I would come by tonight, but I have a budget report that I really have to get done.”

  Tori glanced up to see a look of panic flash in the man’s eyes. “I am not lying. No, just tell Aunt Betty she can show me her vacation pictures tomorrow … Sorry, sis, but the budget report won’t wait. Tomorrow, I’m all yours.”

  So Mr. Perfect wasn’t so perfect.

  “Budget report, huh?” Tori asked when he clicked off his phone. He grimaced and put his head down on the bar in front of him, groaning.

  “You can’t hold that against me. You don’t know my Aunt Betty. She takes these big trips every year and takes hundreds of pictures, all of trees. Trees!” He raised his head. “She went to Hawaii and came back with five hundred pictures of trees. Who does that?”

  Tori couldn’t help but laugh at the exasperation in his voice. “So you have a big family?” A jealous pang went through her, but she shoved it aside.

  “I do. I’m one of five kids, third in the pecking order. I’m the only one who doesn’t live around here, so I try to get back as often as I can to see them.”

  “Yet you’re hiding here,” she added.

  “Yeah, well, you’re not showing me pictures of trees. Besides, you’re prettier than my Aunt Betty.” He grinned, waggling his dark eyebrows.

  Tori blushed and crossed the bar to grab a bowl of peanuts and put it in front of him.

  “So, your name tag says Victoria. Are you a Vicky?” he asked, taking a handful of peanuts.

  “No, I’m a Tori.”

  “Tori,” he said the name slowly as if tasting it on his lips. “I like that. It’s nice to meet you, Tori.” He held a hand out.

  His big hand enclosed hers, sending little shocks of electricity straight through her.

  Yanking her hand away, she still felt his heat. What on earth was that? She looked up into his face. His hooded blue eyes had darkened, taking her breath away.

  Before she could say anything, the bell over the door jingled signaling the arrival of another customer. Taking a deep breath, Tori tried to ignore the unfamiliar feelings as she turned to help the large, bearded man who sat down at the bar.

  Chapter Two

  The cramping in Ethan’s fingers made him realize he was holding on too tightly to the pint glass in front of him. His eyes never left Tori as he took a swig of his beer watching the sway of her hips as she crossed back and forth in front of the bar to make a drink.

  She was one of those women who was beautiful without even trying.
Strawberry blonde hair was piled into a messy bun that just begged him to take the pins out and run his fingers through it. She barely wore any makeup, not that she needed it. Those lips were pouty and pink all on their own. How great would they feel wrapped around his cock? He could fist his hand in that silky hair and guide her mouth where he wanted it.

  Shifting in his seat at his growing erection, Ethan accidentally bumped the arm of the burly man sitting next to him. He turned to apologize as the man jerked in annoyance. When he turned toward Ethan, his worn camo jacket fell open revealing a small gun tucked in the waistband of his jeans.

  Ethan’s breath stopped for a moment, and it was enough time for the man to jump up and pull out the gun, pointing it at Ethan, then at Tori. “Don’t move!”

  Tori’s gasp and then a crash of glass had Ethan turning.

  “I said don’t move!” The man yelled, jabbing the gun in Ethan’s direction. He stopped, his eyes glancing toward Tori. Beer pooled at her feet where she’d dropped a glass, and her hands shakily rose in the air.

  Ethan raised his hands up. “Just calm down, man. You don’t need to do this.” He slowly started to inch to his left so he was standing in between the gunman and Tori.

  “Shut up. You don’t know what I need.” The man wiped his free hand over his dirty brown beard, and Ethan noticed the guy’s wild, bloodshot eyes.

  His stomach sank. If this guy was high, he was unpredictable. Even if they did everything he said, there was no guarantee the man wouldn’t shoot them just for the fun of it.

  “I want all the money you have behind the bar,” the guy barked at Tori. “And you! Give me your wallet.” He pointed the gun at Ethan. “Now!”

  Glancing at Tori, Ethan noticed how pale her face was. “Tori, it’s going to be okay, darlin’.” He did his best to keep his voice calm. The man had backed away from him. If Ethan could get closer, he could get a hand on the gun. He just couldn’t take a chance that the guy could get off a shot at Tori before he did.

  “It’s not going to be okay if she doesn’t move her ass!” The man’s hands shook as he held the gun, jerking it back and forth between the two of them. At Tori’s squeak behind him, Ethan had the urge to shield her, to pull her close and protect her. His hands clenched into fists.

  “Tori, listen to me,” he spoke calmly. “Just get the money for this gentleman, and he’ll be on his way. You don’t want to hurt anyone, right, man?”

  “What?” The man’s eyes were wild beneath bushy eyebrows. “Uh, yeah, give me the money. And your wallet. I said to give me your wallet!”

  This was Ethan’s chance. He reached into his pocket for his wallet. The man’s eyes shifted frantically, and Ethan heard Tori shuffling behind him around the bar. When he held his wallet out for the man to take, the guy looked at him for a moment and then stepped closer to reach for it.

  When he was within arm’s reach, Ethan swung his arm in a wide motion, knocking the man’s arm as hard as he could. “Tori, get down!” he yelled.

  The gun clattered out of the man’s hand, and he looked stunned for a moment before taking a haphazard swing at Ethan.

  Ethan’s army training kicked in immediately, and he kicked out, sweeping the man’s legs so he fell hard to the ground. Before he could catch his breath, Ethan was on top of him, thrusting the man on his stomach. Straddling his back, Ethan twisted the man’s arm up until he screamed. “Stop! You’re going to break my arm!”

  “It’s what you deserve, asshole! You scared her to death.” Ethan looked up to see Tori staring at him with wide green eyes. Her face was as pale as the white shirt she wore.

  Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Ethan said, “Tori, baby, you need to call the police.” For a moment, she did nothing, and Ethan was afraid he might have to figure a way to subdue the man on the ground so he could tend to Tori and call the police himself. But then she blinked a couple of times and seemed to snap out of her shock.

  “Police. Right.”

  “Don’t call the police. I didn’t do anything. It wasn’t loaded, I swear. Just let me go!”

  Ethan held the man still as Tori called the police and then stood like a statue behind the bar until they arrived. Four officers swarmed in, and as soon as they had the man in cuffs, Ethan went to Tori, who stood by a corner booth, arms wrapped around herself as a shield.

  When she looked up at him, her bottom lip quivered slightly.

  “Hey, come here.” Ethan reached out to pull her to him, hugging her body close. She was the perfect height for his six feet. He’d never been fond of petite women, and Tori was tall enough that when she leaned in, her head tucked perfectly under his chin. They fit together like puzzle pieces.

  Her little sniffle just about broke his heart. Ethan tightened his arms around her. For just a moment, she sagged into him, accepting his comfort. For just a moment, she let herself belong to him. Then she stiffened against him, pulling away.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, hastily wiping her cheeks as if trying to erase the evidence that she’d momentarily let her guard down.

  “Sorry? Why are you sorry? Jesus, Tori, a man just came in here and waved a gun in your face. I’d be concerned if you weren’t a little bit upset.”

  Ethan tried to control his frustration as he watched Tori’s face grow politely blank. She pulled a cloak of indifference around her to shut out the world. Dammit, he didn’t want her to shut him out. He’d felt her softness, felt her breath on his neck, her tears against his skin. He wanted to hold her again. He didn’t even know her, but he wanted inside that damn shield.

  “Tori! My God, are you all right?” A man who looked to be in his mid-thirties rushed in wearing a t-shirt, sweats and tennis shoes. A jagged scar traveled down one side of his face, adding a dark edge to his good looks.

  “Q, I’m okay.” Tori’s look of relief as the man gathered her close sent an unwelcome pang of jealousy through Ethan. The man looked him up and down, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny. “Who’s this?”

  Before either of them could answer, a police officer walked over to them grinning. “Quigley, it’s about time you showed up.”

  Q’s face broke into a smile as he saw the officer.

  “Grayson, I should have known you were the one working this.” The men shook hands.

  “Miss Bennett, I need to ask you a few questions. Could you step over here with me?” the officer asked.

  “Uh, sure.” Tori had crossed her arms in front of her, a defensive look on her face as she looked at the officer. Ethan began to follow her, but the officer stopped him.

  “I already have your statement, sir. I want to talk to Miss Bennett.”

  His jaw firmed as he watched the officer lead Tori to a booth.

  “Are you a friend of Tori’s?”

  Ethan turned at the question. Quigley made no attempt to hide the judgment in his tone.

  “No, I just came in for a beer. I was here maybe fifteen minutes when the gunman came in.”

  The man held out his hand and shook Ethan’s. “Zach Quigley. I own this place. Everyone calls me Q. I’m glad you were here, Mr.—”

  “Price. Ethan Price.”

  “Price.” Q’s brows furrowed. “Are you Dylan’s brother?”

  He nodded at the mention of his younger brother. Dylan was the one and only vet in the town of Oakville. He knew just about everyone.

  Q’s face split into a wide grin as he clapped a hand on Ethan’s back. “You must be the brother who lives back east. Damn, I should have recognized the resemblance.”

  Back east. Ethan winced at the thought of his New York apartment. His restaurant had done so well, he’d opened two more. His spacious upper eastside condo was evidence of his success. So why did he feel so miserable?

  Q’s face grew serious. “I’m glad you were here. On the phone, Gray told me you were the one who took down the asshole who pulled the gun. I don’t even want to think of what could have happened if Tori had been here by herself.”

  Neither did Eth
an. He looked over again at where Tori sat talking to the detective. “She still looks like she’s a little in shock.” He was worried about her, dammit. He didn’t even know her, and he wanted to know she was going to be okay, wanted to be the one to make sure she was okay.

  “Q, can I talk to you for a minute?” One of the officers motioned to Quigley.

  “Sure. Excuse me for a minute, Ethan.” He put a hand on Ethan’s arm. “And thank you. Seriously. Tori is a friend. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her.”

  Ethan looked after Quigley as he walked away. A friend? Was it more than that? He began to walk over to the booth, wanting to talk to Tori. Hell, he realized he hadn’t even told her his name. Officer Grayson, or Gray as Q had called him, was talking to her, and his words pulled Ethan’s attention.

  “…friend or boyfriend to come down here and pick you up. You’re upset and shouldn’t be alone tonight.”

  “I won’t be alone,” she answered quietly. “There’s no need to worry.”

  Fuck. Of course, she wouldn’t be alone. She was a beautiful girl, and obviously incredibly nice. Of course she had a boyfriend. What the hell had he been thinking? Here he was making plans in his head. He was thirty years old, and he was acting like he was in high school.

  Heading for the officer in charge, Ethan made sure they didn’t need any more information from him. Then, taking one long last look at Tori, he couldn’t stifle the pang of regret that hit him as he opened the door and walked out of Quigley’s.

  Chapter Three

  The buzzer on the oven startled Tori out of her thoughts. She’d been thinking about him again. Stretching, she rolled her shoulders before pushing up off the couch to go attend to her sweet potatoes.

  The kitchenette in her studio apartment was separated from the living area by a bar top that Tori had adorned with two placements even though she couldn’t remember the last time she’d had company.